Dolphins are close to doing something no other sports team has accomplished

The Miami Dolphins are blazing a trail they hope will influence other NFL teams and franchises across sports, and the process is unfolding smoothly so far.

In its 52nd year of existence, Miami’s first major professional sports franchise is attempting to have every one of its players registered to vote. That would be historic, according to Martin Luther King III and Bill Wachtel of the Drum Major Institute, who note the Dolphins would be the first such team in professional sports history to do so.

While this likely means U.S. sports history, with professional sports leagues all over the world seeming hard to track by this measure, it would mark a positive achievement for the Dolphins.

Wachtel said team was around the 90 percent mark, according to James Walker of ESPN.com. The goal is to have 100 percent registration by Sept. 27, which is National Registration Day.

“The Dolphins are well on their way to being the first professional ball team in American history to have a roster of fully registered voters, and this is just the beginning,” Wachtel said Thursday.

King and Wachtel are partnering with Dolphins owner Stephen Ross’ RISE organization in an effort to join those across sports leagues in an effort to promote equality and improve race relations. The duo paid a visit to the team’s Davie, Florida, facility Thursday to round up some of the final unregistered voters after the conclusion of the Dolphins’ minicamp.

An NFL team achieving this honor would be by far the most difficult. The league’s rosters house 53 players during the regular season, and another 10 reside on teams’ practice squads.

Teams are allowed to carry 90 players during the offseason, though. If the franchise is spearheading this effort during this time of the year, it could be assumed that the Dolphins are trying to get all 90 players currently under contract registered.

That would be a major achievement considering MLB rosters feature 25 players during the season and the NBA carries 15 (not counting D-League rosters). But football also features the largest talent pool of the four major American sports, making the other leagues’ efforts at this less logical despite their smaller labor forces.

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“The hope is that translates into encouraging more people across our nation to get engaged and to vote,” said King, the son of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. “Because a vote-less people, as Dad said, is a powerless people.”

It appears more Floridians will be registered for ensuing elections.

A unique part of this equation is many of these players probably won’t be Florida residents by the time the 2018 midterm elections come up or the 2020 presidential election. NFL player movement runs rampant, and many players will be on other teams or out of the league by the time those elections take place. If they move out of Florida, they’ll have to re-register in their new home states.

But for now, the Dolphins are making a statement. Other teams could be inclined to follow.